Analysis of a Team
by LunarCat713
Summary: What do you get when you mix a sarcastic analysis with a stubborn daredevil, a passionate heroine, and a cheerful technician? Our very own Ghost Protocol team.
1. Chapter 1

This is completed, with six chapters. The first five are in Brandt's POV while the last is in the other three's. These are scenes set during and around the scenes from the movie, recapping from their POVs as well as adding onto it. I will update regularly, probably once every five days- that sounds like a good time frame, right?  
By the way, I had a bit of a problem using William's name. I kept wanting to use Brandt! The team only calls him Brandt so we know him as Brandt. It was weird using William, but then I got used to it.  
My summary: I really couldn't think of anything else. Everyone was easy to describe, except Jane. Does passionate heroine fit her?

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William stood still until the other two agents realized he wasn't a threat and put their guns down. His eyes slid to the only female of the group, Carter, when she showed skepticism about him. He wasn't anywhere near the mood to argue in his defense so he just shuffled past the other agent towards the seats. Luckily Dunn didn't seem as stand-offish as Carter and was even polite enough to toss him a towel.

He sat heavily in the chair and buried his face in the towel for a moment. He couldn't believe it… And it all started with the damn Kremlin, which he had absolutely nothing to do with. Part of him wanted to blame Ethan and his team, but he knew that was unfair. No, the person to blame was Hendricks.

If the man hadn't of had this psychotic scheme then the Secretary wouldn't have been in that car with the Russian government opening fire on them. He would still be alive with William right there next to him in the stuffy party playing nice with a new ally. William knew he couldn't blame himself for the Secretary's death, but he still felt it was his responsibility to protect him at least.

Fuck was the only thing he could think of to describe the moment. Really, the whole day has been an 'oh fuck' moment. And they weren't even done yet.

William looked up when someone approached him and only then did he realize that he had been sitting there with his face buried in the towel.

"Here, I think they're your size. You can change into these," Dunn said as he held out a pile of clothes.

William took them with a slow blink. He threw a glance around and didn't see a second door leading to another room.

"Uh, where?" he asked.

Dunn gave him a look. "Here," he replied with a shrug as he gestured around the car.

William gave him a sarcastic nod and eyed the others. He saw Ethan still immersed in the briefing with Carter was standing near him but had obviously heard the conversation because she was smirking at the wall.

Thankfully, Dunn gave him privacy by stepping next to Jane and the two kept their backs towards him. William hesitated a second before admitting there was no other way and quickly stripped to his boxers, drying off as best he could. He pulled the shirt and jeans on that Dunn had given him and was pleasantly surprised that they were a good fit- not perfect, but would do. He was just grateful to be dry and warm.

He stepped over to the others when Ethan removed the headphones. "Benji, help me set this up," Ethan said to Dunn as he moved the screen back to the wall and Dunn took the USB, inserting it into a port on the computer.

"Alright, all of you start the video while I change," Ethan said shortly before grabbing some clothes and stepping past them to the other side.

When the screens flickered on, William shuffled closer with hesitant steps as the other two stood at attention for the briefing. He had done this before, of course, but it had been years. Not that he was going to explain that to these guys. Actually, part of him was hoping he'd get orders to return to D.C. Not that it would happen- the entire I.M.F. no longer existed. He shook his head and stepped closer as the video started.

Soon Ethan was stepping past William, but instead of joining the others to watch the video he headed straight to the phone. The other two made their way to the seats now that the area was clear but William stayed and stood to the side. He tried not to split his attention between Ethan's conversation and the video, reminding himself it wasn't his business.

Dunn and Carter eyed Ethan a bit but quickly returned their focus on the screens. William paced that end of the car before slowly making his way to the other side where he wouldn't feel like he was eavesdropping on Ethan's seemingly important call. He glanced at Carter and felt her scrutiny when he passed her.

Trying to not let it get to him, he leaned against the wall only to hit a button that opened the door to the weapons supply. Before he could stop himself, he jumped. He eyed the now visible weapons and was reminded just how long he had been out of the field; he was way too jumpy.

He casually nodded to the other two when they eyed him and was a little annoyed when Dunn sighed in exasperation. He slid down and perched on the small step, listening to Hendricks' speech about nuclear war. He had heard about this speech before, but never listened to it in its entirety; Hendricks really was psychotic.

When the video ended, Ethan continued the briefing and informed the other two that their new target was a nuclear extremist. Of course, none of this was news to William- he wasn't an analyst for nothing. He sat silent and listened to Ethan brief them about the situation but only reacted when the team leader told the other two about the death of the Secretary. He saw their reactions out of the corner of his eye and could relate to their disbelief.

Ethan then laid it all out bluntly and gave them the opportunity to back out. Dunn and Carter stayed silent, not that he doubted they would turn away. When he took a breath to say something- what he was even going to say, he wasn't sure- William closed his mouth when he met the intense gaze of Ethan. William knew he couldn't back out; he was involved now, he couldn't just walk away from this. The trained agent in him yelled to see this mission through.

He could see the question in Ethan's eye, asking if he wanted out. He stared a moment to be sure that the other man saw his answer before averting his eyes. He noticed Ethan nod in approval before continuing.

Unfortunately, the circumstances had too many variables that they couldn't control without I.M.F. help and William felt he needed to point those out. Carter was annoyed with his pessimism but Ethan simply ignored them and Dunn was trying to make the two happy. When the subject of Moreau came up, William easily saw that Carter had a personal debt to settle with the assassin and realized why when Ethan mentioned Hanaway.

"Benji, how far out are we from a hotel, or inn, or anything?" Ethan asked.

Dunn pulled over a laptop and, after a moment, said, "Six miles to the next town."

"Great. That gives us enough time to pack." Ethan looked through the many compartments before pulling out multiple duffle bags, tossing them at William's feet. "You pack whatever we hand you." Ethan turned to him and nodded before instructing the other two on what they were to grab.

The four were silent as they did their respective jobs until Ethan passed by Dunn. "Only pack what we need," he said sternly.

"…You never know," Dunn replied. William watched him as he grabbed up some kind of gloves and blow up arms. Before William could question his selection, Carter beat him to it.

"Benji…" she sighed. "What are you going to need _those_ for?"

Dunn shrugged at her and repeated, "You never know…"

Carter rolled her eyes as she returned to her own scavenging. William noticed the slightly hurt look in Dunn's eyes and took pity.

"I have enough room in this bag." He held out his hands for the items and Dunn grinned at him as he handed them over.

William glanced at Carter and saw her eyeing him again. He figured that she would be the toughest to earn the trust of, out of these three. Ethan already accepted him as part of the team from the beginning, really, and Dunn's personality didn't seem to be the type to withhold trust or acceptance. With Carter, however, he read the suspicion and skepticism rolling off of her very clearly.

They finished packing their gear and supplies with enough time to sit and take a breather. William decided to sit apart from the other three and see how they interacted. He had thought wrongly that these three were an actual team. Observing them interact, he could tell that, while they shared trust, they weren't entirely familiar with each other.

Ethan was definitely a leader- that much was obvious. He seemed to regard Dunn as a friend, but a distant friend, which told William that they may have worked one or two missions together. The same for Dunn and Carter, while he suspected that this was the first time Ethan and Carter worked together.

William almost smiled when he realized that he was analyzing the group he was thrown in with. He supposed it was to be expected.

Ethan soon looked over at him. "How you doing over there, Brandt?"

William raised an eye brow. "Fine…"

Ethan eyed him before nodding.

"What exactly happened, anyways?" Dunn asked. "You two sure showed up looking like a couple of drowned rats." William frowned at his choice of words.

Ethan explained, "The Secretary and Brandt picked me up and, while we were driving, the Russians decided to open fire. One of their bullets hit the Secretary and the driver, causing the car to run off the bridge and take a dive into the lake."

Carter and Dunn gazed between the two with wide eyes. "And you two are ok?" Carter asked which Ethan and William nodded in response to.

"I can't believe this is happening…" Dunn said. "I feel sort of responsible, you know?"

Ethan looked at him in understanding. "I know how you feel, Benji, but we had no way of knowing Hendricks was there or that it was a set up."

Carter nodded slowly, agreeing with Ethan but obviously sharing in Dunn's feelings. Silence descended for a long moment until they felt the train slowing down.

"Alright, Benji, book us some rooms at the nearest place for the night. In the morning, we'll take the first available flight out to Dubai.

Dunn nodded, pulling the laptop over again and got to work. The other three let him work in silence and before they departed from the car, each had flight tickets and passports in hand.

"Wow, you're fast," William complimented him as he looked over his passport.

Dunn grinned and Carter leaned towards William to stage whisper, "He's a tech geek." She laughed, not cruelly, at Dunn's dramatic whine before catching up to Ethan.

"Ignore her; she's just jealous of my skills," Dunn claimed.

William chuckled and put the ticket and passport away in a safe place. "Well, they do look good, Dunn."

"Thanks, and you can call me Benji, by the way."

William offered him a small smile and nodded as they approached the other two at the desk.

"_One_ room for Ferrier, huh?" Ethan turned and gave Benji a slight glare.

Benji held his hands up in defense. "Hey, it was short notice, alright! That's all they had available."

When the receptionist nodded in confirmation Ethan sighed and handed over some bills from the supply cache. As they were riding the elevator up to their room, Jane firmly stated that she claimed the bed.

"Wait a minute!" Benji immediately argued. "That didn't give us," he pointed between himself, Ethan, and William, "a fair chance to claim it."

"I don't care," Ethan said, "Jane can have it."

Benji frowned at him before looking at William.

William shrugged; he wasn't about to deny a lady the bed. Benji sighed in dismay and crossed his arms with a pout. Jane chuckled at him before clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Next time we have to share a room, you can have the bed, alright?" Benji gave her a small grin as he shook his head. "And I say that Ethan and Brandt get first go at the shower. After your swim in the lake, I'm sure you would appreciate it."

Ethan and William quickly nodded at her observation as the elevator arrived at their floor. They entered their room and set the bags to the side as Ethan said, "Since Benji got us a late morning flight we can take the time to get new clothes, which means we need to have an early start in the morning. Brandt take the bathroom first, I need to do something."

William nodded and did just that. He made sure to be quiet in the bathroom when he noticed the glances between the others. He figured they were going to discuss him and wanted to know what they would say. Unfortunately, they were being quiet as well and he only caught bits and pieces.

"…second time bringing in the lost puppies, Ethan," Carter said.

"What do we do with him during the mission?" Benji asked.

"…kept his cool when we were being shot at so…" Ethan defended his case.

Then they went really quiet and William realized that he had been too quiet in here so he quickly turned the shower on. Knowing he wouldn't get anymore, William went ahead with his shower, savoring the warm, clean, water and used a liberal amount of shampoo and soap. When he exited, the others had called up room service and had the food lined up in the small dining area.

When the aroma hit William he only then just realized how hungry he was. Because of the events of the day, his last meal was breakfast, which wasn't very much to begin with. He grabbed a plate for himself as Ethan took his turn in the bathroom. Taking a seat next to Benji- who was munching on his portion and flipping through channels- on the couch he couldn't help but comment, "Ah, a good old lumpy couch…"

Benji paused and slowly turned to him with a glare. William heard Carter stifling a laugh. William grinned and took a bite of his food. "This is really good, what is it?"

"Cow tongue," Benji replied flatly.

William froze mid chew.

"That's disgusting, Benji," Carter said.

William looked at Benji, who shrugged, before looking at Carter. He swallowed thickly before asking, "He's joking, right?" Please let him be joking…

"Yes, he is. Its roast duck," she replied.

"Oh, thank god…" William said and turned back to Benji with a glare.

Benji turned with an innocent smile. "It's a delicacy to some," he said before turning back to the TV.

William cracked a small grin and looked at Jane to see her shake her head with a smile. William shook his own head as he continued to eat the thankfully-_not_-cow-tongue food and watched whatever channels Benji paused at.

About an hour later when Ethan suggested they all try to sleep, Carter said, "Good night, boys," with a smirk before closing herself into the only bedroom.

Benji grumbled something that William didn't catch. Looking around, he wondered exactly where the three would crash. One of them would be lucky enough to get the couch and another less-but-still lucky other would get the recliner. Then whoever was left was stuck with the floor. The three eyed each other before Benji suddenly threw himself down flat on the couch, nearly knocking William off with his feet.

"Hey!" William exclaimed as he jumped up to avoid being kicked.

"Oh, look at that- I get the couch!" Benji grinned at the two.

William glared at him and Ethan shook his head. "Go ahead and take the recliner," the leader said.

William sighed. As much as we wasn't looking forward to sleeping on the floor, he knew that Ethan would be the more likely to need a better night's sleep. "No, it's ok." When Ethan gave him a stern look as if to say 'don't argue' William insisted and voiced his reasoning.

"But I'm used to sleeping under harsh conditions; you're not," Ethan pointed out.

Well, he thought he pointed out. Ignoring Ethan, William went to a cabinet to look for blankets and pillows. Feeling the need for some revenge, he threw his findings on top of Benji and smirked at the insulted noises coming from beneath the pile.

Before Ethan could act, William grabbed two pillows and a blanket and lowered himself to the floor. With a momentary smug glance at Ethan, William bid them good night and stretched out in his spot between the bedroom and couch and threw the blanket over his head to ward off any further arguments.

Benji was stifling a laugh, but William didn't have to be looking to know that Ethan was glaring at him. And then Benji observed, "He's just as stubborn as you are, Ethan."

Under the blanket, Williams smirked at the remark but didn't comment. As everyone went quiet, he thought about his current situation. However, knowing he didn't have time to dwell on it he chose sleep over wallowing.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to those who are reading/following/favoriting/reviewing this so far! Here's chapter 2/6.

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Waking up to light rattling and murmuring, William blinked his eyes open and saw the morning sun glowing against the curtains. Sitting up, he was surprised to find that he was the last to awaken; amazingly, he managed a full night's sleep on a hard floor. He stretched out the little bit of stiffness from his back and shoulders before watching the others, not quite willing to actually get up and move just yet.

Room service delivery is what had awoken him, and the other three were busy fixing plates.

"Nice of you to join us. Hope you're hungry," Ethan said without looking up.

William grunted and stood, making sure to take the bedding with him. He haphazardly folded it all together in a bundle and dropped it on the end of the couch. They all ate in silence and took their turns getting ready in the bathroom before Ethan declared it was time to go shopping.

"Alright," Ethan said once they entered the closest clothing store, "Choose a few outfits each. We meet at the registers in forty minutes."

The four nodded and Carter left them for the women's section while the other three headed for the men's. Going his own separate way, William kept an eye out for Ethan and Benji and noted with some amusement that Benji wouldn't shut up about asking Ethan how to go about picking the best outfit for a mission like theirs- of course without using the specific words in public- and he noted with appreciation that Ethan kept his cool despite the hint of annoyance in his expression.

Quickly picking out a casual outfit, two dress shirts and pants, as well as a business jacket to go along with them, William tried his selection on. The other two had their picks as well and Benji suggested ties which reminded William about their shoes. He and Ethan still had the pick from the supply cache. Ethan agreed and the three ended up at the registers with a little more than planned. Carter was already there with her picks.

Eying their armfuls, she smirked and commented, "And I thought women took longer to shop."

William didn't feel like rising to that particular bait and Ethan wasn't speaking up, so Benji replied for them.

"Well, these two did take a swim in the lake."

Carter nodded in accord but was still smirking when they left the store. After they returned to their hotel room to pack up, Carter called a taxi while Ethan checked them out. Before William knew it, they were dropped off at the airport and boarding the plane. He shifted in his seat, trying not to let the lack of his gun bother him. Thanks to I.M.F. and Benji, the agents were able to conceal their weapons and gear from any prying eyes, but it all had to go in cargo.

Due to the last minute tickets, Benji wasn't able to get them seats together, but that was fine by William. He eyed the front rows ahead of him and gazed at Ethan. The main thing about all of this was the very man who pulled him into this. To be fair, William couldn't blame Ethan for that; it was either take the analyst along or leave him to the Russian government. And William sure didn't want to stay in that country after the Kremlin disaster.

Actually, if William were to be specific, the reason he was so hesitant about being here- on this mission- was that he had to work with the very man he let down years ago. Ethan didn't know about it, which was half of the problem.

William sighed and shifted again, switching his gaze from Ethan to roam over the other flyers. His training as filed agent never went away and he always observed his surroundings, both people and environment. Does he tell Ethan?

Taking the analytical approach – surprise-, William broke it down into scenarios. Scenario one: tell Ethan and have Ethan hate him and possibly kick him off the team- if not worse- and leaving him stranded in a foreign country; Scenario two: tell Ethan and have Ethan hate him but keep him on the mission, possibly giving him a suicidal part to play. William winced as he thought of possible ways Ethan could get revenge; Scenario three: don't tell Ethan and go about letting the guilt strangle him silently.

William glanced at Ethan and thought through how he would even tell Ethan. 'Oh, by the way, I was on a protection detail with you and your now-dead-because-of-my-incompetence wife as the assets.' William rubbed a hand over his eyes, already feeling a headache coming on. That would turn out great. And really, just how do you broach a subject like that?

He fidgeted in his seat and felt the person next to him eye him, no doubt thinking that William was a nervous flyer. William wasn't by any means- he was used to planes- so he ignored the person and let his gaze wonder, this time ignoring Ethan's vicinity and watching Carter and Benji. Benji, a few rows ahead of him on the other side was fiddling with his phone and William could tell just by looking at him that the tech wanted to use it.

Carter, one row behind him on the opposite side, was casually flipping through the shopping catalogue without any real interest in it. Despite himself, William's gaze landed back on Ethan and again the question of whether or not to tell him came to mind. Then he suddenly remembered the unsanctioned hit on those six Serbian nationals.

William shivered, knowing what Ethan was capable of. What was the saying? What you don't know won't kill you? William decided that was a good motto to live by in this decision. Maybe he was a coward. Actually he knew he was, seeing as he had quit the field. This would only drag up painful memories for Ethan. Right? William sighed as he resigned himself to keeping his secret out of cowardice.

Because he knew that if he were in Ethan's shoes, he would want to know.

For the remainder of the flight, William sat calmly, trying to find it in himself to keep acting like he never had a past that involved the field or Ethan or his dead wife. He was- _is_- an analyst. Once this was over, assuming they survive and I.M.F. comes out unscathed, William would go back to his office job. He would never see any of these three again. He kept repeating that to himself even as they were exiting the plane and picking up their baggage.

"Benji, acquire us a ride," Ethan said, clearly leaving room for Benji to get them a ride in any way he could.

"Right-o," Benji pulled his laptop out as soon as the four settled down in the waiting area near the entrance to the airport.

William looked at his watch, noting the mental countdown to three hours until the meet. He was getting anxious and hoped it didn't show.

Minutes later Benji informed them that the airport's rental station was providing a vehicle for them and the four gathered their gear and headed there. Ethan and Benji approached the desk as William stood to the side with Carter.

"You seem nervous," she observed.

William looked at her quickly, cursing his luck. "Do I?" He only asked instead of commenting.

"That's normal; you're only an analyst- you're not used to this. But don't worry, we'll watch out for you."

William knew she was only trying to reassure the supposed newbie, but it was only making him feel guiltier. He was a competent field agent, sort of if you ignore his last mission in any case, and could deal with this, but they thought they would have to take care of him. He opened his mouth to assure her that he would be fine and could take care of himself but figured that would only cause the already naturally suspicious agent to be even more suspicious of him.

Instead, he blandly replied, "Thanks, Carter."

Jane eyed him a long moment. William was started to feel uncomfortable under the scrutiny when she said, "You can call me Jane."

Letting out a relieved breath that she wasn't going to interrogate him for anything, William nodded in response. Distractedly he noted that all three now accepted him as part of the team, but he knew that he would still have to be careful to keep his secret hidden.

During the long, boring drive where Ethan manned the Jeep they were provided with and Benji booked them two rooms in the hotel where the meet was to happen, William decided to break the silence. A combination of his nerves and logical, analytical mind caused him to question the plan Ethan put together. He laughed sarcastically when Benji called him the 'helper', not appreciating the thought.

Then he couldn't help but genuinely laugh when they nearly hit a bunch of camels on the road. Exactly how did Ethan _not_ see them?

"Well, at least I can't say this is boring…" William quipped.

Jane turned to him with a grin of her own when she got over her own shock. Benji was looking out the back window with wide eyes at their narrow miss while Ethan was grinning a little sheepishly from behind the wheel.

"Sorry, guys. So, plan clear?" he asked everyone with a tone of finality, evidently getting the hint to focus on the road instead of instructions.

Everyone acknowledged their understanding and they all went back to silence, though it was a compatible silence, William noted. Before they hit the main city, Ethan turned down a narrow road towards the safe house. They would change there and do last minute preparations before arriving at the hotel.

Soon, they were at the location and setting up. Once again, they came across a problem of being disavowed; no easy access to the server. William knew he was being pessimistic- he still had his doubts that this would actually work- but part of him was really curious as to what Ethan would come up with. He knew the man's reputation for acting more on the impulsive, unconventional side.

Oddly enough, it was Benji who found the solution through crazy means- gecko gloves. William was sure that's not what they were called but the name was very fitting as he watched Ethan scale the windows, very similar to a gecko on a wall. And of course, it wasn't very comforting when Benji himself cringed as Ethan began to use the gloves. William was just glad Ethan wasn't able to witness that, because he had seen the look in the leader's eye when Benji casually said the word 'dead' when referring to when the light on the glove turned red.

And he was glad that he wasn't the one climbing the side of the tallest freaking building in the world. Ethan really was crazy. Evidently, Jane felt the same way when she came back and realized where Ethan was.

Keeping up the verbal countdown, William grimaced when he heard Ethan exclaim through the comm.'s, especially when it was accompanied with a not-so-promising thud. He gave the countdown, hoping to give Ethan a bit of grounding and was a little put out when Ethan commented that it wasn't helping. Jane looked at him and he got a little defensive.

Ethan managed to pull the gecko climb off and got into the room, giving Benji access to the server and, by extension, the elevators and cameras. As the tech and Jane went to re-number the doors, William saw another problem.

He warned everyone that Moreau was already there and told Ethan he needed to get back to the room now if they were still going to pull this off. When Ethan didn't answer him he grew anxious again and moved from the laptop to the window to watch for the silent leader. Jane entered and he couldn't hide his nervousness. She tried to reassure him but questioned where Ethan was, only for William to see him jumping out the server level window.

"Jesus!" he yelled and leaned out the window.

"What?!" Jane asked and rushed over. "Oh my god…" she muttered when they saw Ethan running down the side of the building with a jury-rigged line.

"Crazy son of a bitch…" William said and he felt more than saw Jane nod wordlessly in agreement.

And then of course the line didn't reach the window. Still in shock, William pointed the obvious out and Ethan shouted at him, un-amused. Before he could question Ethan's next move, the man was scurrying out of their sight horizontally. Jane and William barely had a chance to exchange looks when Ethan was back in view, only this time flying through the air.

"Oh shit…" William blurted out as he realized what Ethan planned to do. He gestured Jane back to give the man some room, only when Ethan disconnected himself from the line he didn't quite have the aim right.

William could swear his heart stopped when Ethan hit the top of the window and started to fall down- from the 119th floor. Without conscious thought, he leapt forward and grabbed at Ethan, managing to latch onto the man's ankle. He only realized it wasn't a brilliant plan when he felt himself slide forward.

Luckily, Jane also had quick reflexes and had grabbed his pant's leg, anchoring him to the room as he held a dangling Ethan. His eyes slid from Ethan momentarily to look at the horrifying drop. Refraining from cursing and allowing the disorienting feeling of expanse to affect him, William reached out his free hand for Ethan to grab onto as the leader began reaching up.

Heart stopping seconds later, the three were safely inside and William breathed out a sigh of relief. In a horribly comedic timing, Benji appeared and took in the sight of them.

"Ethan tried to fly…" William provided dryly and pushed himself into a sitting, half kneeling position while making sure to steer clear of the window.

"What?" Benji asked.

Ethan glared at Benji. "Your gloves malfunctioned. And then I had to get down here in a hurry." He switched his glare to William but then his expression softened in gratitude. "Thank you, for catching me…" he trailed off and looked out the window towards the ground.

William nodded before looking at Jane. "And thank you, Jane, for catching us both."

She gave them a grin, still in slight shock but was quickly getting over it. "Just don't try that again…"

"Bloody-" Benji cut off his curse. "You _fell_?!" He looked between the three with wide eyes as he realized exactly what happened and how close Ethan, and possibly William and Jane, were to falling to their deaths.

Ethan sighed and pushed himself up. "I'm gonna get cleaned up. Keep track of Moreau and keep an eye out for Wistrom."

As Ethan disappeared into the other room, William stood up and held a hand out to Jane. She gave him a small smile and accepted his help up. Benji shook his head and checked on the masks before taking a seat in front of the laptop. Jane grabbed the tech lens and approached William.

"Ready for the lens?" she asked. He eyed the thing dubiously and she picked up on his hesitance. "It's really not all bad- I've had to wear one once."

He consented, knowing there was no other choice. His part in this plan was to basically be the go-between guy; Benji meets Moreau, acquires the launch codes and passes them to William who uses the lens to duplicate the launch codes- incorrectly, of course- which will then print into the decoy suitcase to track Wistrom to Hendricks. Jane meets with Wistrom, acquires the diamonds and passes them to William who in turn passes them to Benji to give Moreau. All the while Ethan is hiding behind scenes, ready to follow Wistrom.

"It's easier when someone puts it in for you. Take a seat and look up," Jane led him to the couch and he followed orders.

She held the lens out, about to put it on his eye when she froze. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

Shaking her head, Jane smiled at him, but William noticed it looked a little sad. "Nothing, ready?"

He decided not to push the issue and nodded. She put the lens in and William immediately could tell that it was going to irritate his eye. He blinked, looking around and tried to accustom himself to seeing out of only his right now that the lens was blocking his left eye's sight. He stood behind Jane and rolled his shirt sleeves back down as she showed him how the lens and printer worked. She looked back at him before stepping away, acting like she was grateful to be doing so.

He eyed her, wondering what that was about, and what could have possibly happened for her to act that way. But he didn't have much time to dwell on it when Ethan came back in looking for all the world like he hadn't just almost fell to his death. And then yet another problem presented itself; the cryptographer.

And after that everything went to hell. William and Ethan were figuratively locking horns over the altered plans when the mask creator malfunctioned. William was insistent that Ethan re-think this, not willing to let a psychopath have access to active nuclear launch codes. Ethan clearly laid it out and William admitted that they didn't have a choice. He hated it, but they had to work with it.

He handed the briefcase over from where he was threatening to toss it out the window and Ethan shot him a look before passing it on to Benji. Ethan turned to him and gazed at William's lens covered eye. William was quickly learning to be weary of that expression Ethan showed when he was thinking up a plan.

"What…?" he sighed out.

"How are you with computers?"

William glanced at Benji, who looked up in surprise for a second before returning to altering the briefcase.

"What?"

"Can you, for certain, activate the tracking device once Wistrom leaves with the launch codes?"

William only had to think for a second. "No." He was decent with computers, but wouldn't trust himself with something this important. Not to mention, with their luck, something else would come up and Benji would be needed to fix or alter the technology.

The other two were now eying him and Ethan. Ethan glanced back at them before turning to look at William, his expression completely serious. "It's now more important than ever that we get the tracking device set immediately, and only Benji can do that."

William's eyes widened as he realized what Ethan was suggesting. "I'm sorry," he started in disbelief, "You're saying you want to put an _analyst_ in the field?! In direct contact with an _assassin_?"

Of course, with William, this wasn't an issue. He was just more surprised that Ethan was even suggesting, much less willing, to put who he believed was an unqualified and inexperienced person so close to danger. Was the man just absolutely crazy?

"Ethan!"

"Wait a second!"

And apparently Jane and Benji shared his thoughts.

Ethan held is hand up to get everyone's attention. "Jane is playing Moreau and Benji has to be able to man the computer at any moment. That leaves you or me. I would face Moreau alone, but you already have the lens. Who's to say we both can't go, though? I'll be Wistrom, you be Leonid; I'll be _right_ there."

There was a heavy silence as the three stared at William. Of course, he had to agree. He nodded and Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. The other two, however, weren't satisfied.

"Ethan! This is insane! Brandt isn't a field agent!" Jane protested.

William grimaced but quickly hid it. "It's fine. It has to work," he nodded at her, repeating her own assurances back to her. "I'll be with Ethan." he tried to make that sound like it was the solution to everything but seeing as how crazy Ethan's plans have become it wasn't comforting to him and it apparently wasn't to Jane either.

Benji nodded. "Right, he'll be with Ethan. Ethan will take care of this."

William eyed Benji before nodding in assurance. But Jane's words were right, this _had_ to work. Pulling themselves together, he, Ethan, and Jane left for their respective meeting places. When they reached Moreau's room, William couldn't help but to question if the two parties had in fact met. He looked at Ethan and felt the lens shift, causing his eye to twitch.

Ethan looked at him but didn't answer, not having one to give. When the door opened, William glanced at the three body guards- which was another factor they learned about when they were setting up- flanking the door and swallowed nervously. As a field agent, he was used to tense situations, but there was a lot riding on this meeting alone being successful and he hadn't been face to face with hostile- or potential hostile- enemies in quite a while. Perhaps his life as chief analyst was making him too soft and comfortable…

Moment of truth; Ethan and William stood face to face with Moreau.

If he could have, William would have let out a giant sigh of relief when Moreau asked who was who. He felt the sentiment throughout the entire team and overheard Jane on her end mimic Moreau's question to the real Wistrom and Leonid. Then they were each checked with another tense moment as the body guard checking Ethan handed the tracking device over and Moreau eyed it carefully before inviting them to sit.

Trying to still his beating heart, William made himself look as at ease as possible. He glanced over and saw that Ethan was looking far more comfortable than him. It's a good thing he was playing the boss and not William, because he would have failed at looking in control.

Then Ethan and Moreau exchanged an easy jibe about the codes and diamonds before Moreau grew impatient and ordered one of the bodyguards to kill 'this one', meaning William. She said it so casually that William was nastily reminded that she was a cold blooded assassin.

And of course he jumped a little when the man reached for his gun. He silently cursed and yelled at himself to get it together when Ethan prevented the order from being carried through. William gained control of himself enough to add onto Ethan's bluff but Moreau laughed, informing them she killed the best. There was a short silence after that before he overheard Benji making an inquiry in his role as room service.

As Ethan made a suggestion on the way they carried this out, William took a moment to adjust the lens into a more comfortable position, making it simply look like he was itching under his eye. Finally, Moreau ordered one of the men to get the codes and he overhead Jane finish her small talk when Wistrom insisted on getting the deal over and done with.

Moreau handed the launch codes over to Ethan who in turn passed them to William. He tried to pace himself to make it seem like he was being thorough and he could feel the damn lens irritating his eye again, making it twitch. He could overhear Wistrom verbalize his irritation at their locked suitcase. Jane threw out an apology and delayed the opening of it until William could copy the codes and they were printed into the empty case.

He couldn't help but glance at Ethan a couple times in nervousness when he could feel Moreau gazing at him as if she wanted to snap his neck- even without a reason. He heard Benji was on his way with the diamonds and knew that a quarter of the meeting had been successful. That gave him some breathing room as he used the lens to copy the codes.

Finally, he finished copying the codes and told both Ethan and Jane that they were good to go ahead with the next step. He watched as Ethan contacted Benji about the delivery of the diamonds while he overheard Jane giving Wistrom access to the briefcase and codes.

Benji delivered the diamonds and Moreau checked them over while Jane informed them that Wistrom was on the move with the launch codes. When Moreau accepted the diamonds and handed the papers back to William, he thought that they were finally in the clear.

Until she pulled the papers out of his reach. William looked up at her and saw that she was gazing into his eye- the eye with the lens. With dread, he realized too late that she knew. Suddenly she was shouting an order to kill him- because of course it was one of the handful of languages he knew- and Ethan quickly acted by kicking the table over and into the body guard that was closest to William. In the resulting chaos, William noticed Moreau escape.

The second body guard nearest William pulled a gun on him. Before he could think about it, his instincts kicked in and he disarmed the gun, tossing the piece into the face of the first body guard who was recovering from being knocked over with the table. He didn't even spare a second's glance at Ethan but knew he was taking on the third bodyguard.

In an odd simultaneous move, Ethan and William used nearly the same maneuver to drop the body guards they were fighting before Ethan smashed the table into the first body guard's head, effectively knocking him back out of the fight. As his opponent came back up to fight William, Ethan knocked out the third, yelling at Jane in between punches to take Moreau in alive.

As Ethan tried to get Jane to acknowledge his command, William dodged punches and took the opportunity to grab his opponent's leg when he tried to kick him. Spinning and twisting the guy's leg, William quickly moved to knock him out with a single punch. Breathing heavy and feeling a little rusty but extremely satisfied, William stood and looked at Ethan.

Who was giving him a look that said he figured William out. Shit. Ignoring it for the moment, Ethan ordered him to find Leonid- because he now obviously didn't need to be babysat- and declared to everyone that he was going after Wistrom.

As the two moved out of the room and separated, William heard a shot over the comm.'s and hoped it didn't hit one of his team members. After a long moment be could hear Jane ordering Moreau around and he breathed a sigh of relief as he continued his search of the cryptographer. Soon, all of their comm.'s were crackling in static and William remembered the approaching sand storm and figured that was to blame.

Unfortunately, when he found Leonid the man had been shot twice in the chest and the situation was not looking promising for him. William cursed and tried to encourage Leonid to not die on him. Why would Wistrom kill the cryptographer?

But William wouldn't get the chance to ask the poor guy because he died and then multiple shots rang out, reminding William of his teammates. He spared a second glance at Leonid before racing down the hallways towards their room. When he burst in, gun at the ready, Jane and Moreau were fighting over the gun- _very_ close to the non-existent window, he noticed with horror. Waiting for a clear shot, William closely followed the two women. Then Jane let go and dropped as Moreau aimed.

William yelled out at the same time Jane kicked up, right at Moreau and the assassin went flying out of the window with a scream. William stood in shock as Jane stood up, looking half satisfied and half surprised at herself.


	3. Chapter 3

The response to this story has been quiet since chapter one... Hopefully people are still enjoying it. Don't worry, though, I won't stop updating. Here's 3/6.

* * *

"What the hell, Jane?!" William yelled at her. She merely stared him over before looking at Benji who had just sat up.

"Are you alright, Benji?" she asked and ignored William.

"Oi… That's gonna leave a bruise…" he groaned and looked around, seeing an out of breath Jane, a pissed off and still somewhat shocked William, and- more obvious- a lack of a certain assassin. "Where's Moreau? Did she get away?" He asked in worry, looking between the two.

Jane's eyes flickered to William but didn't speak up. "She kicked her out of the window," William explained for her. Her eyes flashed at him in warning but he wasn't going to let that go. Moreau was an asset; Ethan called it. She may have had something on Hendricks, but now they'll never find out.

"You… What?!" Benji asked in bewilderment as he shook his head and looked at the window. "You really did that…?"

"We were fighting over the gun!" Jane exclaimed in anger. She ignored the two and furiously stepped into the other room, slamming the door shut.

"Find out where Ethan and Wistrom is!" she yelled through the door.

William glared at the door before focusing on Benji. "Are you ok?" he asked finally.

"Yeah, she just smacked me a good one over the head, but I'll be fine," Benji said and reached for his laptop. "I took my eyes off of her for a split second…"

William sat down a few feet from Benji and looked over at him. He could easily see that Benji was blaming himself for the outcome. Well, not so much the outcome but the reasoning for it. "She's an assassin, Benji; she's programmed to kill and will take _any_ means to accomplish that. Don't blame yourself."

Benji looked at him to say something but then his eyes widened as he stared behind William. William quickly looked around and saw a bunch of brown headed their way. The wind picked up and sand started to blow into the room.

"Shit!"

"The equipment! Grab it!" Benji exclaimed and grabbed at his laptop.

Jane burst into the room in confusion before realizing what their yells were about. The three picked up the gear and equipment- with the exception of the already malfunctioned mask creator- and took shelter in the bedroom.

William quickly closed the door to the main room behind him just as the storm enveloped the building. The three stashed the gear where they could and went to the window.

"That is… insanely awesome!" Benji remarked with a grin despite the gravity of their mission, staring out at the madly swirling sand cloud. Even inside they could hear the rushing winds pounding the building.

"I've never seen anything like it before…" William muttered in honesty as their view was filled with nothing but dark brown with short flashes of sky. Though, he wasn't quite sure if he would agree with Benji about an enormous cloud of sand pummeling the earth being awesome.

Jane didn't comment. She just sighed and retreated to the bed, sitting on the edge to wait the storm out and wait for Ethan. He suddenly realized he never asked her if she was alright.

"Despite what happened with Moreau, are you alright?" he spoke up in genuine concern.

Her eyes flashed to him, still heated, but she nodded in response. For the remainder of the time, the two mostly ignored the other and the three kept quiet. About twenty minutes later, the storm ended and they carefully emerged from the room to take in the damage.

Benji let out a low whistle. "Wow. I really do feel sorry for the room service who has to clean up."

William and Jane had to nod in agreement as they took in the sand that had made its way in through the window to cover every available surface with a good three inch thick layer. William felt guilty, but then reminded himself that their mission is to stop a nuclear war. Whether they succeeded or not, this was only a minor problem. About five minutes later, Benji's phone rang when Ethan called.

Finishing up the call, Benji informed them that they were to pick Ethan up in the town. "He said the Russians are here; two agents that he knows of. So he can't risk coming back here to be recognized. They don't know our faces but we need to be careful," Benji relayed to them.

Wordlessly moving, the three grabbed everything, making sure nothing was left behind to lead back to them. Down in the lobby, they saw two beat up men talking to a receptionist. They forwent the check out knowing Benji could do it virtually later, and exited the building without problem. They loaded into the jeep and William drove them as Benji gave them the directions Ethan had given him.

Ethan didn't even bother to take the drivers seat and filed into the back seat with Jane. He looked at everybody and noticed the tension.

"What happened?" His stare lingered on Jane for a moment and William figured Ethan suspected it had something to do with Moreau.

"Moreau is dead," Jane said simply.

Anger rose up in William. "You kicked her out of the window, Jane!"

"She was about to shoot me!"

"Drive," Ethan ordered loudly before anyone could argue further.

Perhaps accelerating a little too much, William took off quickly and jerked the steering wheel with irritated movements. He made sure that his mood wasn't making him reckless, but he sure as hell wasn't going to hide his anger.

Quietly, the team dragged their gear into the safe house and Ethan immediately went into the bathroom to clean up. William tried to pace off his frustration, but it wasn't working. Benji had set up his laptop and was doing who knew what while Jane was cleaning herself up. Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Well?!" he demanded.

Jane ignored him until he asked again. Her response is what was making him frustrated in the first place. She was writing Moreau's possible usefulness off without any regard to the consequences. This was the fate of the world hanging in the balance, and he tried to get that through to her.

She wasn't listening and returned the accusations, calling him a bureaucrat- which he found offensive- and questioned where an office monkey got off judging her. In his anger he nearly spilled it, but bit his lip last second and turned away. She wasn't done, but went after Benji next concerning the Russian agents.

Even though the two were at odds right now, William agreed with Jane on this; Benji should have doubled checked their trail. Just as he was telling Benji he couldn't afford mistakes like that, Ethan stepped into the room and confronted him.

"Just an analyst?!" Ethan demanded.

Trying to get out of it, William played innocent. And Ethan had to go and pull a gun on him, playing on William's instincts. Though in all honesty, William wasn't 100% sure that Ethan wouldn't actually shoot him. He lowered the gun and glanced at Jane who had pulled hers on him in a show of loyalty to Ethan. She lowered it when William removed the clip and cleared the chamber of his gun.

He handed the gun back to Ethan as a sign of peace but hinted to both of their secrets concerning Croatia. Cowering away from Ethan's remark of sharing them, William stood next to the stairway. Ethan responded to Jane and Benji's questions with a slight reprimand about their failure to work as a team and then left.

Maybe he should, too. Obviously, this wasn't going to work out for any of them. With one last sigh, he moved toward his bag and coat, taking them up. When Jane asked him to explain, he paused. It wasn't their fault.

Jane was glaring at him expectantly while Benji was staring at him like he didn't know what to expect of William now. He dropped the bag and coat, careless of where they landed.

"I need a drink…" he muttered and went into the kitchen area.

"Make me one, too?" Jane asked, her expression softening. Just a little.

"Make that three…" Benji whispered.

William grabbed three glasses and a bottle of liquor. He set the glasses in the middle of the small kitchen table and poured them all generous amounts.

Jane and Benji took seats at the table, but William stood across from them as he leaned against the stairway. He swallowed half his portion in one go before taking a slower sip.

"Before I was an analyst, I was a field agent," he finally admitted.

Jane and Benji shared a look, but after his display with the gun control they weren't too surprised to hear that fact.

"That explains a few things…" Jane muttered, but didn't elaborate. William didn't ask her to, either. "So… What happened that made you want to be an analyst?" she asked carefully.

William sighed and took a long sip of his drink. Should he tell them? He gazed at them and saw genuine curiosity. He may not have known these two for very long (has it really only been three days?) but he knew that he could share this with them. And so he did.

They were surprised to hear the secret Ethan had kept, but didn't comment on it. They all knew he had his reasons and respected that. After he joined them at the table and everyone went quiet, he sat there with his head down staring at his hands until Jane reached out and put a hand over his.

When he looked up she said, "I'm sorry. You didn't have to tell us…" She squeezed his hand before withdrawing.

He gave her a small smile. "No… But you do deserve an explanation about my actions. Or lack of…"

"Well, hey," Benji supplied. "Sure, it would have been far easier to know you were a trained agent, but I have to admit I had fun knowing, or in this case believing, that I wasn't the newbie of the group anymore."

This caused them all to chuckle, which considerably lightened the mood.

"Alright, fine. Since we're on this path I may as well apologize for kicking Moreau out the window," Jane shrugged but finally did look remorseful about it.

William nodded, stating, "And I'm sorry I got on your case about it. But I wasn't wrong."

He tried to hide his grin behind his cup but Jane saw it and slapped his arm in good humor.

"So… What do we do now? About Hendricks and the launch codes?" Benji asked.

Jane shook her head. "We have to wait for Ethan… I don't know what he has planned."

"That phone call…" William muttered.

"What?" Jane asked.

"On the train. He told the person to make sure to get 'him' to Dubai," William suddenly remembered. He was ignoring it at the time, but now just realized. "He had plans to meet someone here all along."

"But meet who?" Benji asked.

"Connection?" William guessed, looking at the other two.

"Probably… Who knows how Ethan Hunt thinks," Jane ventured to say.

"Right," William quipped. "This is the same man who wanted to put an inexperienced 'office monkey' right in the middle of danger." He threw a grin at Jane.

She grimaced and said, "Sorry, I shouldn't have called you that."

"No, it's ok… I'm sure it could have been a worse insult." William shrugged.

He grabbed the bottle up and his glass to return to the kitchen. "We should clean up and be prepared to move out when Ethan does call," he suggested. The other two agreed and William took their glasses as well as they moved around the apartment gathering the few things they had pulled from their bags.

As he washed the glasses, William could hear the other two mumbling but couldn't make out the words over the running water. Looking over, he saw Benji eyeing him quickly and he wondered if they were talking about his failed mission and hated that the thought of it made him feel like he shouldn't be here on the team.

The three took turns to quickly wash up and change and at the moment Jane and William were sitting at the table.

"Do you plan to tell him?" Jane spoke up after a while.

William looked up at her and thought about it. "I don't know…"

"I think you should. This is obviously something that you haven't quite gotten over yet," she stated. When William frowned and looked down she leaned her head in to catch his attention. "You're a good man who took a death hard; that doesn't make you any less of an agent. In fact, that's what a good agent needs- a conscience. All I'm saying is that if this has been keeping you down all these years then maybe the truth will make you feel better." Then she frowned. "Not to sound clichéd or corny…"

William gave her a small smile at that and thought about what she said. "I think you're right. Just telling you and Benji was a relief… But seriously, Jane, how do you tell someone that?" He looked at her, his eyes pleading for a direction.

She shook her head sadly, obviously just as lost. "Just do it," she finally said with a shrug. "There isn't any handbook telling you how to handle these things. And besides, even if there were, I think agents work on a different level than normal people do…"

William nodded. "Right… Just look at those six Serbian nationals…"

Jane stared at him. "Ethan wouldn't do that, you know. I don't believe he would blame you as you're blaming yourself. Besides, he wouldn't kill _you_ over it."

"Are you sure about that?" William asked in a lighter tone causing her to chuckle.

"Ethan may be stubborn and impulsive, but he's also smart and honorable."

William nodded in agreement. As he sat there with Jane, he made a decision.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to those who are following this story still! I hope you continue to enjoy it. Chapter 4 of 6.

* * *

Almost an hour after Ethan left, he called and told them to pack up and meet him at the airport. When they arrived, Ethan managed to turn the situation hopeful by providing gear and a jet. William tried to talk to Ethan but the man interrupted him.

They still had a mission to do, but they needed to be a team and put any past differences aside. William nodded and looked at the other two who shared a look before looking at him. Soon, they were all on their way to India with a new plan.

As the plane flew through the night, William sat opposite Benji while Jane approached Ethan with her part of the plan.

"I'm not _good_ at this, Ethan," she was insisting.

He found it amazing that a woman of her skill, confidence, and looks was nervous about seducing a man. Turning his attention back onto Benji, the tech explained William's part in the mission a little too casually for his liking. William eyed the suite _very_ dubiously and when Benji cut the magnet's power off the suit fell like a dead weight with a thud.

He wasn't sure how Benji could have so much faith in technology, especially since technology hasn't so much been working in their favor- which he tried to point out only to have Benji shoot his concerns down with a typical technological geek answer. Technology was sound, huh? He didn't have the energy to point out the flaws in that statement.

After Benji failed to reassure him of the jump inside the computer array, William sighed and left him to play on his laptop. He passed Ethan and Jane in the first sleeping quarters, declaring he was going to try to sleep before they arrived.

Just before dusk, their jet landed and they changed at the airport, not having time to secure a safe house to prepare at. When they were ready to leave for the billionaire's party and Ethan showed them their car, Benji just about psyched out.

"Unbelievable! This is the newest model that hasn't even been released yet! How on earth did you get a hold of one?!" he exclaimed as he circled the car.

Ethan smirked and began telling him. Jane stepped over to William and commented how fancy the thing was.

"Isn't it a little overkill?" William asked blandly.

She chuckled and nodded. "But look at those two; like two kids in a candy store."

"Yeah… Alright! We'd better get a move on if we don't want to be late!" William interrupted their talk of the features the car had.

Ethan grinned at him. "Jealous Jane and I get to be seen showing up in this?"

William gave him a bored look. "Hardly. I would prefer a good truck to this thing." He kicked a tire, wondering just how sturdy this thing actually was if it got into a crash.

"Hey! Don't damage this beauty!" Benji called out from across the car.

"Benji, it's a car." William shook his head. Before they could argue further, Ethan opened the doors "And see? A truck cab would have more room than this back seat. What is this for- toddlers?"

Now William was having fun picking on the car at Benji's expense. The other man quickly shot down any of William's insults by pointing out all of the technological advances the car featured.

"Oh, so it's a geek's dream car?" William couldn't help but ask.

Ethan laughed out loud at that one while Jane tried to be more polite about it. Benji looked at William in surprise before making a face at him. He crossed his arms in a childish pout and looked away.

With a small grin, William offered up a peace treaty. "It is very advanced; the features are useful."

"Well, I'm very sorry to disappoint the both of you, but you don't get to ride in this."

Benji turned to Ethan slowly. "What?"

William tried and failed to hide a snicker when Ethan explained that they were spilling into two groups and arriving separately. "You two will be taking that; we're stuffing our gear in it." Ethan pointed over to a plain van, and tossed a set of keys to William.

"Wha-?" Benji whined. "Oh, come on! First I don't get to wear a mask, and now this…" He looked sadly at the high tech car.

"Well, hey, look at it this way; with the way technology has been going for us something in that car will malfunction. Possibly the GPS will fail, or they'll get locked inside…" William grinned at Ethan and Jane.

Ethan rolled his eyes but Jane frowned, eyeing the car. "Thanks for that thought, Brandt," she said flatly.

"You're welcome. Well, let's go, Benji; help me grab all these bags. See you two at the party." William nodded and quickly grabbed up half the bags. Benji followed more slowly, watching their teammates drive off.

After arriving and parking the van, the two split up to arrive separately. Inside, William walked around with eyes and ears peeled but blending in as just another guest. He spotted their target and made sure to keep him in his sights as he kept an eye out for his team mates. He saw Benji visit the food table to snatch something and then he disappeared when he swerved through the crowd.

When he saw Ethan and Jane next he circled around them to catch their attention and directed it to their target before making his way to his destination.

"Five other planets and I get stuck with the dwarfy non-planet…" Benji complained.

"We chose Pluto for you because you work behind the scenes- it's very fitting," William assured him.

"Yeah, like Saturn's rings signify your many layers of secret agent status and annoying quips?" Benji shot back.

"Exactly," William said with clear humor in his voice.

"Focus, you two," Ethan broke in. William smiled but that smile slid right off as he gazed down the computer array to the giant, spinning fan.

"Do you have to sound like you're going to your death?" Benji asked when William informed them he was in position.

"Do you really need to ask that?" William said flatly. He stood, waiting and listening as Jane began seducing the billionaire. When the man spoke up introducing himself, William tried to lighten the mood and joked, "Not only is he rich, he's charming and modest to boot."

No one commented besides the snort from Benji, but William hoped at least Jane would find it funny even if Ethan didn't. He watched the fan slow as Benji shut it down; noting that it didn't make it any less deadly if the blades weren't moving.

Jump- such a simple action, right? He had Ethan in his ear yelling at him to jump while Benji assured him he would catch him. Neither was helping at all so he tuned them out and simply ended up pushing himself off the ledge.

God he was going to die!

He yelled out as the fan got closer and prepared to get impaled. He suddenly felt a force push against him and he opened his eyes with a long exhale. The crazy magnetic suite actually worked. He was alive. Hovering above slow spinning blades and the point of the fan, but he was still in one piece.

And then Jane was saying she lost the target. If he jumped for nothing someone was going to suffer… And then Ethan was telling him to stand by. Well, it wouldn't be such an issue if he _was_ standing. He looked down at the point less than four inches from his stomach. He couldn't believe they were doing this to him. Suddenly he remembered back to the flight to Dubai where he was thinking of the different scenarios and ways Ethan could come up with to get him killed.

This was one way, wasn't it?

Finally, they had the target in their grasp and he started moving, which startled him at first. It felt incredibly weird to be hovering by an invisible force. As Benji guided him through the array and he overheard Nath try to guide Jane to him, he so badly wanted to comment on the billionaire's attempt to be seducing but was trying not to get himself burnt and Benji wasn't being much help on that count with the stupid rover.

As time passed and William hovered in position, it grew incredibly hot. He was sweating and growing more uncomfortable by the second. Then suddenly the fan turned on, quickly gaining speed and creating a wind tunnel in the array.

William cursed Hendricks to a million hells and back. After this didn't quite go their way, Ethan ordered him out of there- the sweetest words William's ever heard. Unfortunately, the rover wasn't cooperating and he had to burn his hands a bit to pull himself out of there, hoping that the power of the fan would steer him clear of the blades.

Thankfully, he had that assumption right, but now he just couldn't reach the top. Benji couldn't help him, and neither could anyone else. Eyeing the fan, William prayed that this crazy idea of his would work. He balled up and quickly dropped. Moments before he hit, he spread out to catch as much air as possible and it propelled him back up.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he caught himself on an outcropping in the tunnel just above the door. Avoiding pieces of the rover flying through the fan, he kicked off and flew through the door. He looked back and decidedly vowed to _never_ do that again.

He met up with Benji and glared at him before the two headed for the van.

"What happened to my rover?"

"It got shredded by the fan," William replied.

Benji looked at him, thinking he was joking but then realized he wasn't. "Oh…"

"Yeah, oh! I'm never doing that again. You can have this stupid suite back."

"Well it did work! I told you I would catch you," Benji said in his defense.

William dived into the drivers seat so Benji could kept up the connection to the satellite from the passenger seat.

"I can't believe it…" William said after Benji announced that Hendricks just fired the missile.

Ethan wasn't willing to lose, though, and changed their target to the launch device. William turned hard to alter their course, nearly side swiping another vehicle. They couldn't lose, not after all of this. He sped up and swerved around vehicles. He overheard Ethan and Jane arrive and begin the chase and hated that they were still about five minutes behind them.

They arrived and followed Jane to the relay room where Benji could try to work some magic. William had not counted on Wistrom opening fire on Jane, much less hitting her. Looking between her and Benji, he was on the verge of panicking.

William met her eyes and she said, "Really, it's not bad." She looked at him before nodding at Benji.

She was still standing at the very least, and he hoped she wasn't one to hide the seriousness of her injuries. So he had to take her word for her. He had to get the power back on or else they wouldn't be able to stop this missile at all. He instinctively took the lead and left them with a few encouraging words.

Keeping his gun up at the ready with his flashlight leading him, William made his way to the breaker room. Thinking something was finally easy William realized he spoke too soon when suddenly someone threw themselves at him. He quickly realized it was Wistrom and the two fought like crazy- William trying to reach the levers while Wistrom kept him from them. After exchanging a few blows back and forth and nearly having access to the lever, Wistrom had William restrained by the neck, cutting off his air supply any time William struggled to reach forward.

He still did, knowing he had to get to that lever even if he had to drag the other man with him. Suddenly a shot rang out and Wistrom's weight pulled him down. He looked up to find Benji with his gun but couldn't waste any time and threw Wistrom's arm off of him before diving for the levers.

Breathing deeply and coughing a bit, William slid down the breaker box to sit a moment. Of course, they had lost contact with Ethan so they weren't even sure if they made it in time. Benji entered the room fully and looked at William before gazing down at Wistrom solemnly.

"Is he your first?" William found himself asking.

Benji wordlessly shook his head before looking back up at him. "Second…"

William nodded and pushed himself to approach his team mate. "Doesn't make it easier… Thank you. And great shot, by the way," he said gratefully and clapped him on the shoulder. "Now let's go see if we made it in time and get Jane to a hospital.

"Right," Benji said and turned without another glance.

When they returned to the relay room, William pointed Benji to the laptop. "Check on the missile," he said as he rushed to Jane's side. "How are you holding up?"

"Hanging in there. What took you?"

William grinned slightly. "Nothing much, just getting strangled, but Benji saved my ass."

He looked over at the other man. "Well?" he asked with some trepidation.

After a few seconds of checking, Benji let out a whooping laugh. "With only seconds to spare!"

William and Jane shared a relieved look and joined Benji in his laughter.

"Alright, now let's get you to a hospital," he grabbed Jane's arm and put around his shoulders before she could argue. Benji led the way and opened the door of the van. The two helped Jane in as gently as possible and William told Benji to find them the nearest hospital.

"Just two miles from here," Benji informed them.

William took off quickly but tried to keep the van steady and smooth to make it less painful on Jane.

"Alright back there, Jane?" Benji asked.

"Good as can be," she replied as she braced herself against the seats so she wasn't thrown about as much.

They arrived and helped Jane in and the staff swarmed in to take care of her. William and Benji waited in the waiting room at the entrance. Long moments later when they were still waiting, the doors opened and Ethan was half carried inside.

"Ethan!" Benji jumped up and ran towards him with William following closely behind.

"What are you two doing here?" Ethan asked from where he was propped up between two men. He looked around. "Where's Jane?" he asked in a hurry.

"She was shot, but it wasn't bad," William quickly explained. "In fact," he looked Ethan over, "I'd say she was in even better condition than you…"

"What the bloody hell happened?" Benji asked.

"I could ask the same of you- why did it take me so long to abort the damn missile?" Ethan countered.

William and Benji shared a look. "Long story, we'll save it for later," William said and pushed Benji aside to give the hospital staff access.

As they wheeled him away, Benji and William were left with the three men who accompanied Ethan inside. William nodded to them and recognized one as the Russian agent who was chasing them. Only now he was looking friendly.

"Hello. I take it you are Hunt's team?" the man asked.

"Yeah. You're the agent who followed us from Russia," William stated.

"Correct," the man confirmed. "I will be informing my agency that your agency was not responsible for the attack on the Kremlin. Hopefully this misunderstanding will be rectified soon and our countries can once again try to become allies. Once your team is prepared to depart, your team leader knows to contact us. We'll be in touch."

Without any more than that, the three Russians left. William looked at Benji.

"And just like that? After being hunted by them? After they killed the Secretary?" William was pissed off, but knew that the I.M.F. and Washington will have already made up some story about the Secretary's death and so his indignation would do nothing. It was another one of those things that, as an agent, you had to accept. He shook his head and went back to their seats.

Benji followed slowly and sat down next to him. After a little bit more waiting a doctor came to inform them on Jane's condition, assuring them that she would be fine. News on Ethan came back the same and William and Benji took turns staying with two until they could leave the next morning, much to the dismay of the agent's nurses and doctors.

On their way to meet the Russian agents, Ethan complained about the cast on his leg. Apparently they were originally going to put a brace on it- since it wasn't actually broken, just a really bad sprain- but Ethan had objected even that and the doctors quickly saw he would simply take it off. So now Ethan was stuck with a cast on his leg until he could get to another doctor to remove it. William knew that was a good call on the hospitals' part.

Agent Sidorov met them at the airport with a flight ready to take them home and he informed them that amends were already under way. Thanking the man for his help, the team shook his hand and boarded the jet.

"Whew…" Benji flopped down on a seat with his arms and legs sprawled. "It's finally over."

"Yeah. And only in five days," Jane added as she sat down as well.

Ethan hobbled over to the nearest seat and dropped into it while William sat in another seat. "Seems longer than five days…" William commented.

The other three hummed in agreement. When their jet leveled out, they all moved about the plane doing various things. Ethan had borrowed a laptop from Benji while Benji was fiddling with a device of some sort and William was sitting with Jane as they watched out the window and made small talk.

When their plane landed in the states they were greeted by agents and the I.M.F. director himself who gave them individual orders to debrief and help the smoothing out process along. Things were still chaotic, so the four team members barely had time to glance at each other before they were all whisked away separately.

When William returned to headquarters, he entered the office to see it was in chaos.

"Brandt! When we heard what happened to you we thought we'd have to attend your funeral," one of his coworkers exclaimed when they all saw him and swarmed around.

"Yeah, it was insane here as it was; I can't imagine what you had to go through…" another commented.

William smiled. No one at the office- besides the department head- knew of his previous field agent status. When he resigned from the field, he was transferred from his original base at his request, along with the guarantee that his reasons for transferring wouldn't be a known fact. He wasn't so much hiding it as he just didn't want it common knowledge.

So he came into the office setting and trained with the other newbies. Some field agent skills were useful in the office as well, seeing as you had to pay attention to detail and remember facts. That was something he was _very_ good at and he quickly moved up in position and worked closely under the previous chief analyst. When the woman was promoted, William took her place.

In the few years that he worked as an analyst and did his job efficiently, he always wondered if that's where he shouldn't have been put in the first place.

His department head welcomed him back with a long look that William couldn't quite place and gave him the task of filling out the paperwork that needed to be done about the recent events that took place. The others could have done it themselves, but since the agency went on Ghost Protocol everyone else had been in the dark about everything. Even though they were back up and running now and news had _rapidly_ spread like wildfire about what went down, William had been there personally to see the events take place.

So he excused himself from the crowd and sat down in his office at his desk, feeling like he had left it years ago, and filled out the necessary forms on Hendricks and Wistrom to update their database, as well as adding in the new faces of the Russian agents who chased and then helped them.

It was a little numbing how easy William went back to life in the office. He saw new mission intel in the making to be sent off to teams, sent out instructions through his department, met the newly appointed Secretary, and went back to his civilian apartment. It was nearly a full week after India when the department head called him into his office.

"Take a seat, William," the man offered.

"Sir?" he asked, wondering what this was about.

"I want to ask you; how was it to be back in the field?"

William frowned. He opened his mouth to respond, but wasn't sure how to answer. Shrugging he said, "A shock, honestly. Especially the way it happened…" he mumbled.

His boss nodded in understanding. "But after that when you were actually on the mission with Hunt and his team? And be open about your answer."

William stared at him. While this was his boss, the two were also friendly on some level. "Well, I wasn't sure I should be there. And it was harder since Ethan Hunt was involved, because you know…" His boss nodded again. "But then, when it really mattered, I did my part and… It was good, I guess. To be back out there."

"No problems readjusting to the field?"

Shrugging, William replied, "No more than I would think usual."

"And readjusting back here?" At Williams questioning gaze, his boss said, "I've noticed you seem a little… distracted."

"Sir, I don't-"

"I'm not saying that you've lost your touch as an analyst- far from that. But you don't seem too sure if this is what you want."

The two stared a long moment before William asked, "Brian, what is this about?"

The other man smiled ambiguously. "Don't worry about it, Will. Thanks, that's all I wanted."

Frowning, William nodded and went back to his own office. Later that day, a note was slipped onto his desk; he was approved tomorrow off to go to Seattle to meet Ethan and the others at Ethan's request.

He thought maybe Ethan figured it would be good to get the group together for a quick debrief and officially say their good byes. As much as he tried to ignore it, a voice in his head was saying 'or it could be a mission'. That was also a possibility because how many agents really cared or had time enough to reassemble a group to be social?

He was really tempted to shred the note and continue working. He knew he wanted to at least see how the others were doing, especially Jane and Ethan since they were injured. He put the note in his bag and out of mind and went back to work. That evening when he got home and pulled a binder out to review, the note fell out and fluttered to the floor.

With a sigh, he picked it up and re-read it, even though he knew what it said word for word. The meeting time was set for tomorrow night, exactly twenty six hours and thirty four minutes away. Moving without thinking about it, he booked tickets online. Because if he thought about it he would probably back out.


	5. Chapter 5

Again, and as always, thank you to everyone who's following this story. Chapter 5/6. The next and last chapter will feature the other three's POV!

* * *

William approached the docks, looking for pier 47's crab shack. He was still a ways from the pier he needed, but he was early. He took his time to slowly walk through the crowds, enjoying the salty air and sounds of the marina.

"Hey, Brandt!" a voice called out.

William turned and eyed the crowd, easily catching sight of the large grin Benji almost always had on his face. He smiled and accepted the handshake the other man offered.

"I'm glad you came. Have you seen Ethan or Jane yet?" Benji asked.

"No. I'm sure Ethan is already at the meeting location, though."

"Yeah. So, how have you been?"

"Alright; the office was chaotic and they volunteered me to fill out the forms to update the database about Hendricks and Wistrom," William replied. "You?"

"I've been great! Yeah, the head at my base commended me on a job well done through the Ghost Protocol." Benji grinned at him widely.

William grinned back, knowing how important such praise would be to Benji, seeing as he was still a newbie really. "Well, you do deserve that, Benji."

Benji nodded at him. "Thanks. You did good, too. We all did."

William nodded and looked over the crowd again. "Oh, there's Jane," he nodded to her.

"Jane!" Benji yelled really loudly causing William to flinch away. Benji chuckled. "Sorry…"

It did the trick, though, and Jane was making her way over to them. "Hey, guys! It's good to see you both again. How have you been?"

They repeated themselves and asked about her. She sighed. "Well, same as Benji I was congratulated and then given a few days' leave. I visited Hanaway's grave, said good bye."

"I'm sorry, Jane…" Benji said.

William, not having known the man like these two only nodded.

Jane smiled at them. "Thanks guys. But I'm not trying to drag the mood down." She looked at her watch and said, "We should probably find Ethan now. Pier 47, right?"

"Yeah. "William looked around. "We're at 39 now."

"Alright, let's go meet with the boss!" Benji declared and led the way.

As they neared their appointed meeting spot, William grew more nervous but didn't show it. They spotted Ethan seated at a food shack with another guy. They approached him and after the guy introduced as Luther left, they took a seat around Ethan.

Benji and Ethan joked about the car Ethan crashed at the garage while Jane and Ethan exchanged inquiries about their injuries. William stayed silent until Benji commented about the mission and William stated that they were ridiculously lucky.

Ethan questioned that, pointing out that the team really came through. And then, to William's dread, pulled out three phones and dispersed them in front of William and the other two. Instead of the normal '_if_ you choose…' Ethan said 'choose to accept them' as if he wasn't expecting otherwise. Ethan was staring at him and Jane and Benji exchanged looks between him and William.

The air was thick with tension; anyone observing them could see that. Benji, true to his personality, broke it up with a joke before growing serious and accepting the phone and mission, leaving after a handshake with Ethan. Jane picked up her phone and said good bye to Ethan, giving William a look before she walked away.

He had been staring at the phone, and knew he couldn't take it. Why did he even come then? Maybe because a part of him _did_ want another mission, to be back out in the field. But he had already failed once horrendously …

He gave a small nod to Ethan without meeting his eyes and stood. Before he could walk away, Ethan stopped him. And finally William spilt. He admitted he was in Croatia, that it was his job to protect his wife but failed.

He was expecting a demand to explain himself further, to explain why he couldn't do his job, why he couldn't protect Ethan's wife. But a calm question of how William knew Ethan's wife was dead was definitely _not_ what he was expecting.

What?

William looked at him, not daring to think of what that was actually implying. The body, the Serbians, Rankow Prison…

Ethan told him that, yes, his wife was taken but he got her back even at the risk of going to prison. The prison only turned out to be a mission, and Ethan kept his wife's survival a secret to keep her safe.

William couldn't believe it. All these years he thought he got an innocent woman killed and she had survived. His legs felt weak and he had to sit, not able to stop the disbelieving, half crazed laugh that escaped him.

It was such a heavy weight lifted off of him like he couldn't believe. The damned Secretary- he knew how burdened William had been by his failure. But William could understand Ethan's reasons for keeping it absolute secret.

He looked at Ethan, realizing the man was trusting him with the knowledge of his wife's survival. He could see that Ethan was relieving William's guilt about it and he realized Ethan had known before William even told him. Of course Ethan checked his file- it's something William would have done.

With a much lighter heart, William shook Ethan's hand and accepted the offer. The two shared a grin and he walked away. He was staring at the phone so he almost ran into them.

"You accepted! YES!" Benji threw his fist up in victory.

Jane looked at him gently. "Did you tell him?"

William let out a breath. "Yeah, I did. We uh… came to an understanding." He smiled at them and they smiled back.

"Glad you're part of the team, Brandt," Jane said.

William looked at them and realized that while everyone else uses first names, he had never given them permission to use his. It had been a subconscious decision, believing that he wasn't part of the team and that he wouldn't stick around after their crazy adventure was done.

He smiled and said, "William. Or Will, whichever you prefer."

Jane chuckled and clapped a hand on his shoulder while Benji grinned.

"Well, welcome to the team, William. For now, I'll see you boys later," Jane said and gave them one last smile before disappearing through the crowds.

Benji punched him lightly on the arm with a grin. "You know, since I've only been in the field for a little over two years and you're returning from being out of the field for what I'm assuming is a few years, that about makes us even on the newbie scale."

William laughed. "Alright, alright. If that makes you feel better…"

The two shared a grin before Benji said, "I'll see you for our mission, Will."

"Bye, Benji."

William turned to walk off and wondered around a bit more. He had his hands in his jacket pocket, and his left was curled around the phone. It was a nice reminder of the three people he had started to see as teammates. Well, all that was left was to return to headquarters and break the news to Brian.

Though, William had a feeling that Brian already knew, if those leading questions yesterday were anything to go by. William shook his head and made his way to a deserted place to be briefed on his new mission. "And here we go…" he said with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

Here's the final chapter. Thank you to everyone who read/followed/favorited/reviewed this story!

* * *

Ethan, Jane, and Benji waited until Brandt was out of the room and out of ear shot.

When the other two simply stared at him, Ethan argued, "Look, what was I supposed to do? Leave him there?"

"This is the second time bringing in the lost puppies, Ethan," she said. "I don't appreciate you doing this to us. We have enough to worry about."

"Exactly," Benji added. "He's as close to being a civilian as you can get. What do we do with him during the mission?" Although, he was a little happy that someone else was the new guy for once.

"Hey, guys, listen: he's an analyst, which can come in useful-"

"Yeah, when he's not being a pessimistic ass and questioning us," Jane butted in darkly, still annoyed at Brandt. Was it an analyst thing, or just Brandt's personality?

Benji made a gesture of reluctant agreement.

Ethan gave them both looks before continuing like they hadn't even interrupted. "He kept his cool when we were being shot at so I don't think he's going to be a problem. I'll keep him out of the way or with me." He knew Brandt wouldn't be a problem- after everything Brandt had been through already, he's proved he wouldn't be.

Ethan gave them that look of authority that said don't argue with him and the other two let it go. He then noticed how quiet it was and stared towards the bathroom, wondering if Brandt was trying to eavesdrop on them. The shower started just then and he let it go.

Ethan began walking towards the phone but paused and said over his shoulder, "And be nice to him, huh?"

Benji and Jane exchanged un-amused glances before settling down on the couch.

"Now, what should we order for dinner?" Ethan asked.

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Ethan glared at Brandt's covered form, annoyed that someone undermined his order- especially when he was trying to be polite in offering up the more comfortable means of sleep. And Benji's grin wasn't helping with his mood.

"He's just as stubborn as you are, Ethan."

Frowning at the comparison, Ethan decided to just give up- amazing, right? He picked a blanket and pillow from the pile Brandt had tossed onto Benji and stretched out on the recliner.

The next morning, Jane emerged from the bedroom to head to the bathroom to get ready for the day. A few steps into the room and she stopped to take in the still slumbering forms of the others. But she didn't see their newest addition. Looking around, she spotted Brandt sleeping on the floor near the bedroom wall.

Suddenly, the comment about stubbornness she overheard last night made sense. She glanced down at Brandt and grinned; if he truly was as stubborn as Ethan then Ethan had his work cut out for him. Well, serves the man right for bringing another player into this. When she came back out of the bathroom, Ethan was up and nudging Benji awake. The tech groaned and rolled over.

Jane shook her head with a small smile at his antics and grabbed up the phone to order breakfast. Ethan nudged Benji a little harder and he finally sat up.

After a short while Benji noticed Brandt was left alone.

"Hey, what about him?" he complained.

"Eh, let him sleep in some," Ethan said. The man did take the floor, so he deserved at least that. The three went about getting ready for the day quietly and when nearly an hour had passed, Ethan was amazed that Brandt was still asleep.

When he commented on it Jane pointed out, "He's probably exhausted from yesterday."

He started stirring when the food came, though. And then he just sat there.

"Nice of you to join us. Hope you're hungry," Ethan said to get him moving.

Brandt's only reply was a grunt. When Ethan looked up at him he seemed rested enough and hoped that he didn't have trouble sleeping. Though, he didn't seem much of a morning person.

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Jane glanced up again when she noticed him shift for the millionth time. At first she thought it was nerves about flying, but the more she watched him she realized that Brandt wasn't even paying attention to the windows or jumping at the random sounds of the plane. He was… She shifted her gaze… Staring at Ethan.

She frowned in curiosity but lowered her head when Brandt looked around, his gaze stopping on Benji. He was nervous, but it wasn't the flight. She felt his eyes on her for a short moment and realized that whatever mental debate he was having concerned the team. Finally, he settled in his seat and when she looked back up at him, was amazed at the difference in body language.

Before he was fidgeting and had a deep frown on his face, but now we looked calm and collected. She wondered if she should tell Ethan and Benji, but when they were waiting for the car and she approached him, she genuinely felt concern for him.

She tried to assure him that he'd be fine on the mission, but something in his eyes told her that she had said the wrong thing.

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As Ethan slumped against the window, he realized that had to be the craziest thing he has ever had to do- and that's saying something. Luckily, Brandt had quick reflexes and was daring enough to catch him. Same went for Jane, too. The two in question were pulling themselves together after the exertion of pulling his ass back into the room.

Benji reappeared and at his comment, Ethan had to give him a look that said 'seriously?'

"Ethan tried to fly…"

Brandt's sarcastic comment nearly made him laugh, but he didn't have the energy to do so. He was quickly learning, however, that Brandt could be very sarcastic and had a dry sense of humor on him sometimes.

When Brandt moved, Ethan eyed him to make sure he wouldn't fall out of the window. But after Ethan's near fall, no one was about to attempt the same thing. He wondered, not for the first time, why Brandt exhibited the certain traits he did- it just didn't add up with an office monkey. Ethan mentally winced and cursed Jane for the use of that particular phrase.

He suspected Brandt wasn't telling them something, but his gut told him that it wasn't anything that would jeopardize his team or the mission, so he didn't question it. Not yet anyway.

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Jane had to admit she was impressed at his- actually, their- bravery. Or maybe it was just sheer stupidity. Either way, she felt her stomach drop when Ethan started to fall and then when Brandt dived after him. Somehow she found the strength to hold them both and could only pray that Brandt's pants, and the carpet, wouldn't give.

Recovering quickly, everyone resumed their preparations and she approached Brandt with the lens. He looked up at her and she was about to place the lens on his eye when she noticed it.

She froze, staring at the deep blue green of his iris- very nearly the same shade as Trevor's. How had she never noticed?

"What's wrong?" he asked her, concern in those irises.

She tried to shake it off; now wasn't the time to think about her lost team mate. She gave Brandt a weak smile. "Nothing. Ready?"

He didn't appear to buy it, but thankfully didn't say anything. She was suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable around Brandt, unnerved that he had reminded her of Trevor. After they tested the lens, she moved away quickly to clear her head. Maybe she moved too quickly, because she felt his eyes on her.

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Benji watched in concern as Brandt and Ethan nearly went head to head over the launch codes. When Brandt stepped close to the non-existent window threatening to toss the case away the tension grew. He wondered how Ethan was taking the blatant disregard for orders, being the leader and all. When he had said that Brandt was just as stubborn as Ethan, Benji wasn't aware until now just how right he was.

Then the mask machine decided to say 'screw you bastards' and Ethan still insisted they do this. While Benji knew that time was delicate here, he could hardly believe it. First, what if their two targets _had_ met and second, he really wanted to wear a mask damn it.

Finally, Brandt agreed out of a lack of choice and things carried on- until Ethan got another crazy idea.

He and Jane looked at each other in disbelief when not only Ethan suggested putting Brandt out there- with an assassin of all things- but when Brandt actually agreed! Benji was starting to think that maybe Brandt was just as crazy as Ethan, too. He shook his head; peas in a pod, those two.

But, there wasn't any other choice, or enough time for that matter. He did, however, notice Brandt's reaction to Jane's remark about him not being a field agent. Something about that nagged at Benji, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

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Ethan had wanted to strangle Brandt. Time was too much of a delicate thing for him to be arguing with Ethan. Not to mention Ethan wasn't used to someone questioning his authority, especially not like Brandt was. Then again, he and Brandt were complete opposites, so it should be expected. However, the man once again impressed him by stepping up to the plate.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't lead a near civilian into danger. He just had to make sure that if things went bad he protected Brandt.

He did his best to remain in control so Brand would feel more comfortable, and the man really pulled through. Even when Moreau ordered the bodyguard to kill him he quickly pulled himself together, even adding onto the bluff and delivering it believingly. If Ethan wasn't aware of his analyst position he would have thought Brandt used to delicate situations like this.

Food for thought, Ethan quickly noted before focusing on Moreau, watching her carefully as she watched Brandt. He saw that her scrutiny was making him nervous so he tried to keep her attention onto him by giving her an overly polite smile.

When he thought they were in the clear, Moreau figured them out and ordered her guards to kill Brandt. Ethan kicked the table at the first guy and grabbed at the one closest to him. He was about to yell out to Brandt to move out of the way when he saw Brandt grab the guys gun and, in what Ethan had to admit was a very impressive move, dismantled the slide of the body guard's gun.

Even more surprisingly, he threw it into the face of the one sneaking up behind him, effectively distracting him. Ethan tried to keep an eye on Brandt through his own fight and suddenly realized why things weren't adding up.

Brandt wasn't just an analyst, he was an agent. They were subtle and most likely subconscious things; like how he phrased things and carried something out with a confidence of someone familiar with it. Sure he doubted the mission and questioned their plans, but he _was_ still an analyst- it was probably just in his nature. He took down the two, yelled at Jane through the comm.'s, and then watched Brandt finish taking down his opponent.

Yeah, those were the moves of a field agent. And, despite being a bit rusty, those were the moves of an impressive field agent.

Brandt looked at him, breathing heavily from the fight but looking happy with himself and then seemed to realize that he just gave himself away because he had that 'oh shit' look in his eye. Of course, now wasn't the time to address the issue so he just ordered Brandt to find the cryptographer, now realizing the man was more than capable of taking care of himself.

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Benji stared out the window, feeling stupidly giddy despite the circumstances. He did his best to ignore the tension between the other two and watched the sand storm outside. He couldn't help but noticed, though, how different Brandt was acting. Before he would be aloof, albeit a little headstrong in voicing his opinion, but now he was clearly showing his anger at Jane about Moreau's death.

Why did it matter so much to Brandt? Sure he was on this team too, and the mission was important, but he was taking it a little _too_ strongly.

Once at the safe house and the two were really going at it, Benji wished they would go back to quietly seething. Despite his being an agent, he really didn't like yelling and he did his best to ignore them.

He was starting to succeed when Jane turned on him. He saw Ethan enter the room and breathed a sigh of relief. However, instead of calming everyone down, he joined in the yelling.

"Just an analyst?!" Ethan demanded.

That caught the entire room's attention and Benji and Jane looked on as Ethan confronted Brandt. When Ethan asked him who he really was, Benji suddenly remembered the oddities he noticed about Brandt. The reaction to Jane's agent comment, and how at ease he was at times about the spy setting…

Suddenly Ethan pulled his gun on Brandt and Benji half expected Ethan to shoot the man. But he watched in silent shock as Brant slapped the gun away, only for Ethan to grab Brandt to get _his_ gun. Benji would have thought Ethan the winner, but with a speed and movement Benji's never seen, Brandt disarmed Ethan and turned the gun on him.

What the…

He glanced at Jane out of the corner of his eye and saw her with her own gun out watching the scene unfold very carefully.

Terrifying thoughts of enemy spies and betrayal ran through his head, but Brandt merely cleared his gun of bullets and handed it back to Ethan, saying something about secrets.

Benji breathed a sigh of relief when no further attacks happened and the guns were put away. Then Ethan was gone to scrounge up a plan, leaving the three alone.

"I need a drink…" Brandt muttered in response to Jane's demand for an explanation.

He and Jane requested one as well and after a very quiet moment, Brandt told them. Benji felt he could sympathize with Brandt, sometimes still feeling inadequate in the field. But he couldn't image what it would feel like to be burdened with something like the death of an innocent asset.

And then Brandt revealed that it was Ethan and his wife who was the assets- he couldn't believe it. But Brandt had been there and witnessed it. Then he remembered what he said to Ethan about Julia leaving him and felt horrible. But he hadn't known.

Benji could clearly see how remorseful Brandt was about that mission and he and Jane did their best to cheer him up.

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Jane and Benji began packing up while Brandt took care of the drinks.

"Jane…" Benji whispered. She turned to him and he said very quietly, "If they chose _him_ to look after Ethan…"

Jane nodded, seeing where Benji was going with this. "He's got to be one of the top agents- or was before he pulled himself out."

Benji glanced at Brandt quickly before saying, "Exactly! Did you see how he disarmed Ethan? I didn't think that was possible…"

Jane grinned. "Well I'm sure Ethan wasn't trying to keep a hold of the gun- merely testing Brandt- but you're right. I have no doubt that he has pulled that move off successfully many times before."

The two shared a nod and Benji moved to another part of the room. Jane glanced at Brandt and saw him looking out the window with a sad expression. She sighed quietly and finished packing.

Later when the two were sitting at the table alone and Brandt was still looking morose, she decided to talk to him about it.

"You're a good man who took a death hard; that doesn't make you any less of an agent." And she meant that. Trevor was the same, which was one of the many things she- dare she say- loved about the man. Brandt was similar to her fallen teammate in many ways while being completely different.

When their gazes met she could tell that he really appreciated hearing that. She had to wonder just how deeply affected Brandt had been all these years. By the end of their talk, she was glad to see a new spark and determination in his eye.

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Ethan caught a local taxi to get to the meet. He was still seething about this team playing the blame game and getting at each other's throats when there were far more important things to worry about. Damn Hendricks had been there the whole time posing as Wistrom and they didn't even know. They could have taken him down, and Ethan had come so close but the man slipped away.

And then there was Brand to deal with. He still trusted the man and knew he wouldn't put the team at risk, but he didn't have to be so secretive about his agent status. But something Brandt had said screamed at Ethan to investigate. The way Brandt said they had their secrets and then looked at him like he knew something.

His jibe about sharing secrets was meant to be light, but Brandt nearly flinched away from him. What did Ethan do? That's what he didn't understand. He tried to think if he's ever had a run in with an agent Brandt before but couldn't place his name _or_ his face. When this was all over and the fate of the world wasn't hanging by a few measly threads, Ethan vowed to do some digging.

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Benji had the honor of standing in the presence of the most technological advanced car to hit civilian usage and William had the audacity to mock it.

"Oh, so it's a geek's dream car?" Brandt asked after Benji explained all of the features and incredible technology infused in the beautiful work of art that was the car.

Benji stared at him. Really now, that was mean. Ethan just laughed and Jane was at least trying to stifle hers. He couldn't help himself, but Benji made a face at Brandt and turned to sulk.

And then Brandt caved and admitted the car was cool. Benji wondered how heartfelt that was but decided he would accept the quiet apology- because whether Brandt meant it as such or not he would take it as one. But then, horror of horrors, Benji couldn't even use the car! No, instead he had to show up in an ordinary, old van. Not fun at all. But he did enjoy the idea of Ethan and Jane getting locked inside of the car.

When he and Brandt teased each other about the planet code names he decided who needed your family around when you had teammates? But then they had to get serious and get down to business. It took a bit of pushing, but Brandt bit the bullet and made the jump. Now, Benji had assured and reassured Brandt that he- well the magnets more specifically- would catch him, but now Brandt had actually made the jump he couldn't help but worry.

Then Brandt was quiet. At this point, Benji would have expected a remark about Benji's magnets actually working but nothing came. He had a horrible few seconds where he thought he killed Brandt but then the man responded to Ethan's question- irritation clearly making its way through the comm.'s. Benji breathed a sigh of relief.

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Jane took a deep breath when Nath made his way over to her. She was nervous enough and Ethan was not helping- she didn't want, or need, a back seat driver! The billionaire introduced himself and she fought to keep the look of disgust off her face. He was laying it on way too thickly.

Next she was fighting to stop herself laughing when Brandt's voice sounded in her ear saying, "Not only is he rich, he's charming and modest to boot."

Thankfully Nath had to turn away; otherwise he probably would have seen her lips twitch. Around Nath, she saw Ethan shake his head, but obviously found Brandt's comment just as amusing as she did.

She wasn't sure if it was Brandt's intention to make her feel better about having to do this, but she would have to remember to thank him for that comment. When Nath turned back to her she just hoped she could get this done was quickly as possible. She wanted out of this dress, out of these heels, and away from this creep.

When the time came for Brandt to jump, she grew nervous. She knew he wasn't happy about having to rely on magnets to stop his fall and she couldn't blame him. Especially with how accommodating their technology has been so far… Note the sarcasm. She couldn't help but react when Brandt finally jumped and his yell suddenly stopped.

She let out a breath she had been holding and looked over at Nath, whose hand suffered her nerves. Oh, god she screwed up. Nath gave her a look like she was crazy and walked off. She screwed up and Brandt had jumped for nothing. Was he alive?

She told Ethan she lost the target and he asked for confirmation on Brandt's end. She breathed a sigh of relief when the man responded, but it quickly turned into a guilty grimace when she realized he was down there now without the sequence. Ethan stepped up to her and asked her not to hit him. At first she was confused, but when he reached out for her she knew what his plan was.

She laughed nervously, unsure if she wanted to do this. Yes, she's kissed before, but she was too professional to let herself get to that level with a team member. Even with Trevor. She couldn't deny that Ethan was a hell of a good kisser, though. Despite that, the necessary deep connection just wasn't there for her to worry about it.

And when they parted and looked at each other, she knew he felt the same. He gave her a very smug look when one of the servants came up to her with a phone and left her to do her job.

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Jane leaned heavily against the stand, controlling her breathing to ease the pain. She glanced at Brandt as he checked her over with the aid of his flashlight. She could see panic in his eyes as he looked from her to Benji. She assured them both that it wasn't too bad.

Brandt caught her eyes and seemed to be assessing if he could trust her judgment. He could, because really the wound wasn't as bad as it could be. She could tell it wasn't life threatening at least. Then the unsure look in his eye completely disappeared and was replaced with a determined glint. He quickly turned to Benji and ordered him to fix the computer and then turned to her and ordered her to be the look out while he got the power back on. Before he left, he looked her in the eye and reassured them that they could do this.

If she weren't trying to keep the pain at bay, she would have smiled at his retreating form. He had taken the lead so naturally that she wondered if he even realized it. Not to mention that this in-charge Brandt was considerably different from his always-pessimistic-and-sarcastic self. It was a nice, and welcome, change. She took a deeper breath and backed up until she was leaning against the computer and turned to Benji.

"Sure you're alright, Jane?" he asked, sparing her a quick glance before returning to the wires.

"Yeah. I am. I've got you and Brandt to take care of me, right?" she sent him a reassuring grin and was glad he returned it. She knew how worried Benji could get.

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Benji quickly ran through the hallways with his gun at the ready. They hadn't heard from Brandt and the power still wasn't back on. He had the relay wired and back up, now he just needed it running but he also needed the power for that. He knew Wistrom had run off somewhere and hoped the man wasn't the reason for Brandt's delay. As he neared the breaker room he could hear struggling and quickened his pace, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

He turned the corner and saw Brandt struggling against Wistrom as he tried to reach for something. He sure was fighting his damnest and Benji could easily tell that the movement was only aiding Wistrom's goal in strangling him.

Taking a deep breath, Benji brought his gun up and aimed. He fired and watched as the two collapsed on the ground. He hit Wistrom, not Brandt. He had to…

But then Brandt rolled a bit and moved Wistrom's arm from around his neck, looking over at Benji in surprise and Benji relaxed. Then he was suddenly scrambling from view and Benji heard a thud just before the power came back on. He rushed into the room just as Brandt had slid down the box and got his breath back.

He was staring down at the man he just killed, not quite sure how he felt when Brandt asked him if it was his first kill.

No, it wasn't, but it was still new to him. Was that something you even got used to?

"Doesn't make it easier…" Brandt said. Guess not then, Benji mused. He vaguely wondered how many kills Brandt himself had.

Then Brandt thanked him and complimented his aim before reminding him of the missile and Jane. Not wanting to think about Wistrom right now and having an injured teammate who needed their help, Benji followed Brandt out without a second glance.

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Ethan looked around the jet to check on his team. Sure he knew they were out of danger and relatively unscathed, but he wanted the reassurance. Jane and Brandt were sitting together near a window staring out while conversing about nothing of importance. Benji was, unsurprisingly, fiddling with some technology. Hopefully improving it to ensure it actually worked. He was going to have to send an e-mail to the tech department at headquarters…

Ethan gazed down at the laptop he borrowed from Benji and glanced up at Brandt before pulling up the I.M.F. database, using his clearance code to access some files. He searched until be found Agent Brandt's personal file and opened it after another glance at the man.

He skimmed the personal profile before moving on to mission reports. He skimmed slowly through them, interested in what could have happened to make a field agent switch to an office job. There were a lot of missions listed and after close to an hour of reading through them he caught sight of a word, specifically a name, that made him freeze.

He scrolled back up to the beginning of the mission report and read carefully. When he was done he scrolled down to find that there were no more mission reports. He breathed deeply before going back to the profile and compared the dates of the position changes to that last mission, the protection detail in Croatia.

He quickly closed down the database and signed off before shutting the laptop and setting it aside. He glanced at the others and saw that while Benji was still playing with the same device, Brandt and Jane had moved apart to do separate things. Brandt was just sitting in a seat zoned out.

Ethan watched him a moment but the man never even noticed his gaze and he finally turned away. Brandt had been on an assignment to protect a couple of assets. It went bad and resulted in the death of the wife.

Julia… Ethan looked over at Brandt again and wondered how much the man was still affected it. Suddenly, their first meeting made a lot of sense. He had noticed how nervous Brandt was but put it down to the events that had just happened. But now that he knew of Brandt's past and knowledge of him and Julia, he realized that Brandt had been nervous about Ethan himself.

Of course, Ethan hadn't known that Brandt already knew him. He allowed himself a moment of anger directed at himself for not noticing how closely Brandt had tailed him in Croatia. Sure, he had noticed that I.M.F. placed a team on him and Julia- it was actually expected- and knew they were being watched but he had never seen anything.

While he had to admit it was a little irking that he never caught Brandt spying on him, he was also a bit impressed. But now Ethan had a guilty agent to settle things with. Of course he didn't blame Brandt one bit about the Serbians taking Julia. Unfortunately, that risk was a part of being an agent.

Ethan knew how damning the guilt of death was to an agent. He still hadn't forgotten Lindsey. Even to this day when he thought about her he would play the 'what if' game. What if he was faster? What if he was stronger? But he hadn't been able to save her- and he had been so close. Ultimately, he knew it wasn't his fault. Sure it had taken time but his anger at the ones who did that to her helped him to avenge her death.

But Brandt didn't have that. He just had to report the failed mission and then move onto another. His way of dealing with the guilt had been to resign from the field. He was a good agent- Ethan read the reports and witnessed him in action personally. He just had to let go of the guilt.

And Ethan had to be the one to do that, otherwise Brandt wouldn't take it from anyone else. So after they returned and Ethan had reported in and been debriefed, he went straight to the director who agreed to Ethan's request and directed him to Brian Torret, the head of the analysis department. The two needed to have a little talk.

About a week later after the team had met up again and he offered them a new mission, he knew Brandt would refuse. Actually, he counted himself lucky that the man even showed up. He stopped Brandt from leaving, expecting to have to be the one to break the ice, but Brandt finally talked.

It made Ethan guilty hearing how much Julia's supposed death had hit him. As if summoned, he saw her ferry pull up and locked eyes on her almost immediately. He knew what he had to do.

For a second Brandt looked like he had seen a ghost; which was pretty damn close, considering. He knew he didn't have to worry about the safety of Julia's secret with Brandt after witnessing the man react to her death and then the knowledge that she wasn't actually dead. The two stared at each other a moment and Ethan could see the gratitude in Brandt's eyes.

He grinned when Brandt picked up the phone before walking away. He watched Julia from afar and she saw him. It was these tiny moments he cherished, longing for the day when he could simply have her back in his life without worry. But, for now, he still had a world to save and bad guys to take down. And with this new team of his, the enemy didn't stand a chance.


End file.
